Battle of Jena-Auerstedt

The Battle of Jena-Auerstedt (14 October 1806) were two major battles of the War of the Fourth Coalition of the Napoleonic Wars that occurred when Napoleon I's French army of 40,000 troops defeated a larger Prussian army of 60,000 Prussian troops under Friedrich Ludwig zu Hohenloe-Ingelfingen at Jena while Louis-Nicolas Davout's French corps of 27,000 troops defeated a Prussian army of 60,500 troops under Ferdinand of Brunswick at Auerstedt. At Jena, Marshal Michel Ney led a foolish charge, and Jean Lannes and his corps managed to break through to help him as Napoleon's forces flanked and destroyed the Prussians. At Auerstedt, Davout's single corps formed cavalry squares to force the Prussian cavalry back, and Davout ordered a counterattack as the Prussian attacks faltered. Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte's corps did not contribute to either battle, and he was nearly dismissed from command. The French victories at Jena and Auerstedt crippled the Prussian army, inflicting 38,000 casualties on the 120,500-strong Prussian armies at a cost of just 6,830. Ferdinand of Brunswick was shot in the head and mortally wounded, and the Prussians realized that they needed to liberalize their traditionalist armed forces. With the Prussians defeated, Napoleon's forces were free to enter Berlin without resistance in late October.